The world knows the F-22 Raptor for its stealth capability, supermaneuverability, and supercruise. It is alleged to have had a proposed naval variant called the “Sea Raptor.” With all its advanced features, the idea of a carrier-capable F-22 just never materialized due to the end of the Cold War and budgetary constraints.
The U.S. Navy had originally contemplated great alterations to the F-22 for carrier operations. Those included a variable sweep-wing feature that would have destroyed the stealth capabilities of the jet. The collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent military budget cuts, however, axed extended production plans for the F-22. The Navy would turn its attention to the multirole F-35 platform instead.
It is the first fifth-generation fighter, appearing in the 1980s from the U.S. Air Force Advanced Tactical Fighter program. The Raptor took over the leading place in the U.S. aerial strategy as a reaction to the growing Soviet Union fleet of modern fighters. Its tiny radar cross-section powered two Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan engines; its impressive armament made it a formidable presence in the skies.
The Navy had an interest in a carrier-capable variant of the F-22 with that aircraft’s stealth, speed, and payload. But adapting the Raptor for carrier operations was going to be an enormous engineering challenge. A broad-wing design variable sweep-wing design similar to what is employed on the F-14 Tomcat would be impossible to incorporate without eroding the jet’s low observability.
Leading the efforts to cancel the Sea Raptor was Admiral Richard Dunleavy, who excelled at defining the requirement for a new fighter for the Navy. He could not find out how the F-22 would evolve into any kind of reasonable naval platform. That upgrading their fleet of F-14 Tomcats would achieve air superiority requirements in the near term – the Navy then realized.
Moreover, the gross take-off weight for the F-22N was estimated at well over that of what current carriers could handle. By the end of the 1990s, it had become a certainty that the naval variant of the F-22 was extremely unlikely, given the close of the Cold War and the changes in the global security environment.
From this emerged the F-35 Lightning II, developed from the Joint Strike Fighter Program, as the superior choice for a multirole aircraft. Right from its development, the F-35 was meant to meet the requirements of the Air Force, Navy, and Marines; therefore, it also has a carrier-based variant, the F-35C. This features larger wings and tail control surfaces for increased low-speed control, in addition to catapult launch capability from and recovery on aircraft carriers.
Sharing practically most of the features in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the advanced sensors, weapon load, and countermeasures are carried. The F-35C is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney F135 turbofan engine. It is among those few examples of how the US military has moved ahead with the multirole concept for meeting virtually all modern warfare requirements.